Gratuities on ships with reduced capacity?

[bigbenboys]

1st, how is giving cash any different than handing your seapass card to staff. Is Celebrity going to close their casino on each ship. I have cash at home that I have not touched since Nov 2019 our last cruise. Wash your hands before and after touching cash.

As to ship being half full an only needing half staff. If Celebrity stops the buffet and opens Blu and Luminae for lunch every day. The staff assigned to Luminae and Blu work in other areas of the ship when Blu and Luminae are closed. So maybe Celebrity will need more staff not less. What about staff working less hours a day to keep healthy. Covid is not the only virus that could be on a cruise ship or brought on to a cruise ship. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

5 hours ago, HS2BS said:

If I remember correctly, gratuities are pooled across all the ships and then paid to all crew on a formula basis. Crew that gets individual tips are “supposed” to add those to the pool as well!

 

Hal

 

I don't believe that's the case.  If you pay your regular gratuities, the staff you give extra gratuities to may keep the cash.  And I don't see cash going away.

[ipeeinthepool]

29 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I based my comments on what appears to be a general consensus on this thread that crew members will be reduced, not just passengers, so the ratio of passengers to cabin stewards or waitstaff will remain more or less the same. This being the case, the crew wouldn't actually suffer any reduction in compensation. BTW, many of us already spend a few more dollars in additional tips because we care about the crew.

 

Now, if Celebrity decides to keep a full complement of crew while reducing the passenger load, a whole new conversation can take place.

 

From everything that has been discussed, there will be a lot more work for the crew, so I doubt that there will be a reduction in the crew.  For example, more cleaning for the cabin attendants and more work for the waiters 

[Pinboy]

5 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

If Celebrity decides to sail with fewer numbers of passengers will passengers increase the gratuities to maintain the same income for the staff

That's a " Good one ". 

Not a chance-- from what I've read on CC there are more than a few who " stiff " the staff by removing the automatic gratuities.

I could see Celebrity increasing the daily amount as well as increasing the cost of the cruise if they are sailing at a lower capacity.

 

1 hour ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I will bring sanitized dollar bills or brand new dollars to tip for our drinks

Trust me, any staff member will accept a cash tip and maybe sanitize the bill when they return to their cabin.

What are you going to do ? Tell the server that you sanitized the bill before you came ?

 

We always select Prepaid Gratuities as a perk or add them on to the price when booking, so whatever it is , it is.

Also, we tip extra to our Room Steward, Waiter , Asst Waiter, and Service people in the Specialty restaurants. 

( We do not go to any bars ) .

 

 

[ipeeinthepool]

11 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

That's a " Good one ". 

Not a chance-- from what I've read on CC there are more than a few who " stiff " the staff by removing the automatic gratuities.

 

 

You may be correct, but I hope not.    There are so many threads on CC where people praise the staff and ask what they can do for them.  Increasing their gratuities to reflect a reduced passenger count is a fair way to compensate them for more work and less passengers.   Hopefully people will at least think about it.

[bikerunner]

I keep it automatic and tip appropriately at near end of cruise.  Wouldn’t add extra on top of my norm if ship was half capacity.  That’s a business decision being done, along with many health agencies, by celebrity   But what will new normal be who knows at this point.   

[Pinboy]

Just now, ipeeinthepool said:

 

You may be correct, but I hope not.    There are so many threads on CC where people praise the staff and ask what they can do for them.  Increasing their gratuities to reflect a reduced passenger count is a fair way to compensate them for more work and less passengers.   Hopefully people will at least think about it.

Correct-- Staff can't take " praise " to the bank ; cash is better and pays for more.

[2chiefs]

6 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

If Celebrity decides to sail with fewer numbers of passengers will passengers increase the gratuities to maintain the same income for the staff?  For example, if the ship sails at 50% capacity will you double the amount of your gratuities?

Hmm. Then logic also says that cruise fares should double.  

T

[ipeeinthepool]

12 minutes ago, 2chiefs said:

Hmm. Then logic also says that cruise fares should double.  

T

 

Not exactly the same.  The cruise line has control if they sail and may accept a loss just to get the business restarted.   The staff doesn't control anything and their total compensation is based on gratuities from a full passenger load.  But if you would like to send more money to Celebrity I'm sure they would appreciate it.  

[Roger88]

The number of crew members will not be reduced. Otherwise people would say that the companies are bad and firing people. Please, if you go on a cruise leave these people some good tips. They have to support their families overseas and they have not been working for almost three months now. I cant even imagine what a horrible hardship they had to go through

[grandgeezer]

9 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

The number of crew members will not be reduced. Otherwise people would say that the companies are bad and firing people. Please, if you go on a cruise leave these people some good tips. They have to support their families overseas and they have not been working for almost three months now. I cant even imagine what a horrible hardship they had to go through

 

Haven’t you been paying attention in your own country? Unemployment was at an all time high, businesses were shutdown, and there were millions in the same situation as the crew. A majority of the crew got paid for the first couple of months, the people I know didn’t get paid. 

Charity begins at home.

[excitedofharpenden]

Hey pee!  You having fun yet?

 

Phil 

[MISTER 67]

8 hours ago, garyl62 said:

I'm not going to get into a "how do you tip" conversation as I don't believe that was the intire intent of the OP, but I will add the thought that a planned reduction in occupancy could also result in a corresponding planned reduction in staff. Especially service staff that are part of the tip pool. If that is done in equal proportions the amount each staff member receives may not change as much as first thought.

Exactly.

[Covepointcruiser]

This is a thread about something that is not even being considered by any of the RCI companies.   Of course the number of crew will be reduced if the passenger capacity is halved.   Gratuities have not been changed and will not be until inflation causes an increase.

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

I don't believe that's the case.  If you pay your regular gratuities, the staff you give extra gratuities to may keep the cash.  And I don't see cash going away.

Unfortunately, I disagree.  I always thought the same way that you did - that if I gave extra money to staff (which I almost always do) it would stay with them.  But then in recent cruises several times I've seen the hostess in both Blu and Luminae collecting the tip money at the end of the cruise.  I can only presume it was for distribution among everyone, as I can't think of any other reason for her to do that?  I don't think doing that is appropriate if it is happening as I think - I want the extra money I give to go to the individuals who went above and beyond, not spread out among everyone like the base tips.  I would like to be proven wrong about my supposition if anyone knows for sure.

[jelayne]

27 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

This is a thread about something that is not even being considered by any of the RCI companies.   Of course the number of crew will be reduced if the passenger capacity is halved.   Gratuities have not been changed and will not be until inflation causes an increase.

Actually the daily gratuity was raised recently by $1 pp per day.  

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

The number of crew members will not be reduced. Otherwise people would say that the companies are bad and firing people. Please, if you go on a cruise leave these people some good tips. They have to support their families overseas and they have not been working for almost three months now. I cant even imagine what a horrible hardship they had to go through

There is no way of knowing if you are wrong or correct.  I believe the number of crew members will definitely be reduced.  If the ships need to sail at limited capacity for quite some time (which is likely until a vaccine is developed and widely available), they could not afford to pay for a full crew with 1/2 a ship full of passengers (or whatever percentage it will be).  Keep in mind that crew work on limited timed contracts.  So if their contract has expired, there is no 'firing' to be done - they are just not renewed.  Also keep in mind that many crew members, having seen what happened during the virus, may choose not to re-up their contracts.  For the record, I definitely believe in supporting crew members and always tip extra unless I receive bad service (which is very rare on Celebrity).

[jelayne]

1 minute ago, phoenix_dream said:

Unfortunately, I disagree.  I always thought the same way that you did - that if I gave extra money to staff (which I almost always do) it would stay with them.  But then in recent cruises several times I've seen the hostess in both Blu and Luminae collecting the tip money at the end of the cruise.  I can only presume it was for distribution among everyone, as I can't think of any other reason for her to do that?  I don't think doing that is appropriate if it is happening as I think - I want the extra money I give to go to the individuals who went above and beyond, not spread out among everyone like the base tips.  I would like to be proven wrong about my supposition if anyone knows for sure.

I have been told by MaitreD,s in both Blu and Luminae on various ships that the staffs in those venues do pool the extra gratuities.  That isn’t the case with cabin attendants or butlers.  It seems that bartenders at the Martini Bar  split tips as the $ go into the jar behind the bar in full view of everyone.  

[phoenix_dream]

5 minutes ago, jelayne said:

I have been told by MaitreD,s in both Blu and Luminae on various ships that the staffs in those venues do pool the extra gratuities.  That isn’t the case with cabin attendants or butlers.  It seems that bartenders at the Martini Bar  split tips as the $ go into the jar behind the bar in full view of everyone.  

That tracks with what I've seen.  I don't think it's fair, but that seems to be how it is handled.  For bartenders, I've noticed it works that way at many bars at home too so I guess that is not a new thing.  But I don't like it handled that way for staff in the restaurants.  

[NantahalaCruiser]

7 hours ago, jelayne said:

There already exists a way to give extra Gratuities to crew And have that amount charged to your on board account. There is a form you can get from Guest Services for the extra. Tips.  We use it regularly on longer cruises to minimize the amount of cash we need to carry.

When I tried to have extra gratuities charged to my account last September, I found that the form did not allow me to provide a tip to an individual crew member - only to specific categories.  Which was ok to get money to my cabin attendant since there was only one person in that category, but not ok for individual waiters.

[RICCruisers]

The only crew member you can tip extra by going to Guest Relations is your Cabin Attendant. I suggest you do this a couple of days in advance. It shows up on your TV Guest Account when it is paid out. It took 2 days on our last cruise and I had to call to confirm it was in progress. 

 

Other areas can can also be included like Food and Beverage but not by name of an individual. 

[Laurab23]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

I have been told by MaitreD,s in both Blu and Luminae on various ships that the staffs in those venues do pool the extra gratuities.  That isn’t the case with cabin attendants or butlers.  It seems that bartenders at the Martini Bar  split tips as the $ go into the jar behind the bar in full view of everyone.  

Of course I have also seen when I was the only cruiser at the martini bar that the bartender put the tip I gave him in his pocket,which was fine with me. He was the one that waited on me all evening.

 

Laura

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

2 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Unfortunately, I disagree.  I always thought the same way that you did - that if I gave extra money to staff (which I almost always do) it would stay with them.  But then in recent cruises several times I've seen the hostess in both Blu and Luminae collecting the tip money at the end of the cruise.  I can only presume it was for distribution among everyone, as I can't think of any other reason for her to do that?  I don't think doing that is appropriate if it is happening as I think - I want the extra money I give to go to the individuals who went above and beyond, not spread out among everyone like the base tips.  I would like to be proven wrong about my supposition if anyone knows for sure.

The tips are pooled in Luminae and Blu because everyone there works together to make sure you have a good experience.  Not just your waiter.  For example, I mentioned to our Luminae bread guy that I liked Celebrity's brown bread.  He made a trip to the MDR every evening to get that for us after that.  Definitely service above and beyond.

 

As for tipping extra, I've decided to spend my $1200 from the government that I really didn't need by giving extra generous tips to those who wait on me in restaurants, cut my hair, etc. and will extend that to those who serve on the ships when we get to cruise again.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, RICCruisers said:

The only crew member you can tip extra by going to Guest Relations is your Cabin Attendant. I suggest you do this a couple of days in advance. It shows up on your TV Guest Account when it is paid out. It took 2 days on our last cruise and I had to call to confirm it was in progress. 

 

Other areas can can also be included like Food and Beverage but not by name of an individual. 

 

You can also specify an extra tip for your butler.  And if you're dining in Luminae or Blu, those tips are pooled anyway, so your extra tip will achieve the same purpose.

[Shadow9612]

4 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

When I tried to have extra gratuities charged to my account last September, I found that the form did not allow me to provide a tip to an individual crew member - only to specific categories.  Which was ok to get money to my cabin attendant since there was only one person in that category, but not ok for individual waiters.

 Agreed. I had the same thing told to me from guest services. Maybe this pandemic will get Celebrity to rethink how they allow for additional gratuities,?   It would be great if guests were allowed to add additional gratuities at guest services just by providing the name of the crew member.